Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol Hardcover – 17 Nov. 2016

Steve Jones was never going to win any literary awards for his "warts and all" tale of his up bringing in the less than salubrious parts of West London; his all too few years in the limelight as the Sex Pistols guitarist (and studio bassist); and his struggles and ultimately his survival through the forty years since the Pistols flame was extinguished. But this is an interesting book: it's surprisingly well written for a man who didn't learn to read and write until he was in his thirties; and it's an honest insight to the sex, drugs, rock and roll and thieving demons that drove him to the edge and how he turned his life around, although there are moments when Jones comes across as proselytising but I shouldn't complain if it helps others as Jones is clearly aiming to.Surprisingly there is very little, perhaps too little about the Pistols actual music. Jones has avoided the all too common mistake that musicians make of thinking their readers are interested in details of keys, riffs and so on. Instead Jones focuses on the personalities that whirled around him in the cash from chaos maelstrom surrounding the Pistols; and with Rotten/Lydon, Cook, Matlock, Vicious, McLaren, Westwood, et al there's a lot of personalities to focus on. I particularly liked Jones's thoughts on how John Simon Ritchie might have turned out if he had been called Sid Gentle or Sid Nice, and his conflictions on Lydon/Rotten make for an interesting read.While Steve Jones's thoughts and memories may not be of interest to anyone who's never heard the Pistols for those us who fondly remember punk's annus mirabilis of 1977 this is a must read (unless of course you are John Lydon!) but beware it is brutally frank and Jones wasn't always a good guy.

Without the Sex Pistols there would be no Punk. And without Steve Jones there would be no Sex Pistols. It was Steve who formed Kutie Jones and his Sex Pistols, the band that eventually went on to become the Sex Pistols, with his schoolmate Paul Cook and who was its original leader.A friend at work was reading this and raved about it, so I decided to give it a go. I’ve been aware of The Sex Pistols since they began, even though I was too young in 1977 to appreciate them (and watched “The Great Rock N Roll Swindle” before I should have) and like their music and stance, but went into this not knowing what to expect. And it didn’t disappoint. Told in an exuberant style (ghost written by Ben Thompson), as if Jones was regaling you in a pub (with no alcohol present), this starts off very dark indeed, as he’s abused by his step-dad (his father ran away before he was born) and then by a local ‘nonce’ in the underpass. From here, however, we see the glam of the 70s almost from the inside, as the lonely, neglected boy skips school, lives off petty thievery, discovers girls and steals equipment from Bowie, the Stones and Roxy Music. After coming into contact with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, punk is born and The Sex Pistols takes off. Jones tells the story frankly (and often paints himself in the worse light), from the ‘filth and the fury’ up to 2015 (when this was published). Occasionally harrowing, often funny and never dull, this is a cracking autobiography and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very much recommended.

I bought this book after I watched the series Pistol. It has more detail of Steve Jones' life growing up, the forming of the Sex Pistols and post Sex Pistols. A very interesting read, sometimes funny and other times heartbreaking. I found it to be a very honest account of how he was abused as a child, and his later battle with addiction. He fully admits things he did wrong in his life to other people and is obviously very remorseful. A must read for any Steve Jones and Sex Pistols fans.

I'll admit that I'm completely biased in that I'm a huge Pistols fan from back in the day. Whilst I wasn't quite old enough to travel to see them like a lot of other people they completely changed what I thought about music. And life in many respects. I'd previously read both of John Lydon's books and found them both revealing about the band but more significantly about the man himself. With some pre-formed bias around how Steve Jones may not quite have the same level of prose as Lydon I started reading this with some cynicism. About 5 pages in that was blown away. It was, as others have pointed out, as raw and honest an account of his life as you could hope for. He didn't hold anything back about having a tough childhood whilst not playing the sympathy card. Whilst critical of Lydon's negativity and controlling he was also full of praise for his genius. Would like to have had a bit more about his time in The Professionals as that seemed to get skipped over a little. I could imagine it as an 'Evening with Steve Jones' though as he took us through his life and maybe that's somewhere he'll take it given how his public speaking seemed to take on a life of its own. I was left at the end feeling that despite everything he's been through he's come out the other end much better for the journey. Must now try and check out Jonesy's Jukebox.

I don't think in the opening parts I'd have been writing "the most emotional intelligence of the Pistols auto-bios" but having read them all, his is the only one, in the closing chapters, showing much self-awareness or development. Interesting. Lonely boy, well maybe the loneliness was self-inflicted? Or an inevitable result of his childhood? I am not sure. I do wonder how a band in which the guitarist and drummer liked Be Bop Deluxe and the singer Van de Graaf Generator managed to stay together for as long as they did.

The media could not be loaded.  A muito tempo esperava a oportunidade de ter esse livro esperei ter uma promoção no Amazon ,e finalmente estou com meu livro

No doubt, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious come to mind first when most people think of the Sex Pistols, but guitarist Steve Jones was equally important. This book covers not only how vital his role in the band was, but how being part of such a notorious outfit affected the rest of his life. Its an entertaining, often hilarious, read. Anyone who has heard his interviews knows Jones is quite a character. His book is no different.Even though I am a huge fan, all I can say is its a good thing this man discovered his talents in music, because based on his own admissions, he’s got next to no other redeeming qualities. Former rock star or not, its obvious he’s gotten more chances than he ever deserved and left a lot of human wreckage in his wake.It’s hard to care about such a worthless pos, (the bit towards the end about ripping off Sid Vicious’s mother proved he never really changed) but I am glad he did find sobriety.Still, after reading this, the best I can say about Steve Jones is we’ll probably all just be better off when he’s dead.

Jonesy schildert seine Seite der Sex Pistols! Ob wahr oder nicht, ist sie die unterhaltsamste von allen der Mitglieder

An interesting tale but I don't like the fact he seems to think thieving, drugs and antisocial behaviour are to be glorified.

L'ho comprato dopo aver visto la serie, visto che volevo approntare. Sono fan dei Sex pistola da anni e finora avevo sentito quasi esclusivamente la versione dei fatto di Lydon. Anche Jones è un personaggione, bel libro, scritto anche bene devo dire.